A recent study conducted by Ignite Visibility suggested that Meta descriptions, brand name and followed by page result constitute the largest influence that there is over the possibility of users’ click-through rate affecting the search result. Of the respondents, about two-thirds asserted that the more ads were present the less they would want to use Google and a majority of these respondents were in agreement that Google is making improvements in their search results by choosing to include SERP features and featured snippets.
The polls were collected from over 500 respondents ranging from 25 to 60 years.
The biggest influence on clickthrough
When the respondents were asked on which factor had the greatest influence on their decision to click on a search result, about 62.9% of the participants alluded it to the description while 24.2% of them attributed to the name of the brand and the remaining 13% attributed to the title. A rather contradictory finding from the study discovered that about 55.1% of the respondents said that what drives them to click on the search results is the name of the brand they know.
Users believe search results have since improved
About 58.5% of the respondents, which constitutes a majority of them, clearly preferred the state of Google as of December 2019, the time when the study was conducted. On the other hand, 55.5% also believed that Google’s decision to include other SERP features and featured snippets contributed to the improvement in Google’s search results.
Will including more ads turn users away?
66.7% of them, which represents two-thirds of the participants, believed that the more Google inserts ads into their search results, the less they would consider using Google. However, these findings are in direct contradiction with a survey that was published in December 2018 where about 75% of the participants believed that the presence of ads makes it easier for them to find the information they are interested in.
Approximately 67% of the respondents put together by Ignite Visibility were in disagreement with the idea of companies running their ads based on fellow companies’ branded searches. This finding correlates with the findings of other surveys indicating that a larger percentage of users will only click on search results from familiar brands.
Why we care
According to this study, the second largest influence on clickthroughs is brand recognition. Some users also consider it as a make-or-break factor. This only means that to supplement your SEO efforts, it is important to build your brand awareness to enable you to capitalise and gain organic visibility.
The study also brought to light the significance of writing very compelling descriptions. SEOs and site owners need to ensure that their search intent is well-aligned with their description because chances are that Google will use more accurate information from your page’s content rather than description if it thinks it is more accurate.
Brands will have to conform to the new state of affairs if consumers have a preference for the modern search results pages plus their features. One of the most effective ways of regaining your visibility is by designing your content having rich results in mind.
The addition of more ads will probably not be enough of a factor to change user behaviour because they may be more for paid listings that are within search results the ecosystem within Google is pull factor.
